Good News Press September/Oct. 2015 Good News Press November/December 2015 | Page 2

Good News Press - 2 About Good News Press Sharing the good news of God’s Love through his Son to our local community and world! Partner With Us in Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ to our Community! Good News Press is a Christian outreach publication in the San Francisco Bay Area. This popular high-quality, newspaper, informs and inspires believers, as well as plant seeds into the hearts of men and women that do not know Jesus Christ. Good News Press covers world, national, and local religious news and events, and features inspiring Christian articles and insights. It is available, both digitally online and in full-color printed format. Christian newspapers reach a targeted audience-specifically a family oriented, audience, with strong loyalties and convictions. share the good news, and bring to them the love of Jesus Christ. 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The Source of Our Self Esteem By Jack Kelley “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights , who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17) “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:3-10). Self-esteem has been defined as the way we see ourselves, our own opinion of us. But is it? No one knows us like we do, but our opinion is influenced and often distorted, by the opinions of others important to us. Parents, teachers, friends, associates and the like. So while it’s called self-esteem, it’s more likely a composite of others’ esteem for us. Abraham Maslow was right, gaining the acceptance of others is a pre-requisite for selfacceptance. To earn a higher self-esteem then, requires that we earn the approval of those most important to us. Typically our efforts in this area fall into one of three areas: appearance, achievement, or performance. Appearance There’s no question that the beautiful people among us often get preferential treatment. Some learn from an early age to depend on their appearance for acceptance. They believe that as long as they look good, those whose opinions matter most will accept them, permitting them to accept themselves. Collectively, they spend billions of dollars on health spas, cosmetic surgery, clothing, you name it; all an attempt to maintain or even improve their appearance to gain wider acceptance of others, bolstering their self-esteem. But eventually the calendar catches up, the laws of physics prevail and no amount of money can halt the ravages of time. Those whose self-esteem has been based solely on their appearance often become pitiful parodies of their former selves in their futile efforts to stay forever young and beautiful. Achievement All the world loves a winner. Some folks use periodic achievements to foster acceptance. They run marathons, climb mountains, win prizes and awards, all to gain recognition for their achievements. The recognition signals the approval of others, building self-esteem. But again time is the enemy and someone younger, faster, and stronger surpasses their achievements relegating them to living in the past, recalling the glory of yesterday’s achievements, glory that can no longer be earned with today’s abilities. Performance Here’s a group that can only feel good about themselves when they’re performing at or above certain standards. They literally become what they do, and when they can no longer do, they’re diminished in their own eyes and their self esteem suffers. Having spent their entire lives performing to gain acceptance, they’ve lost the ability to sustain their selfesteem. They become problems for themselves and others, and many die prematurely. For example, according to insurance industry statistics, the average length of retirement before death is less than 2 years. To escape this death sentence they go back to work, or start a new career, performing again to regain their selfesteem. All these attempts at maintaining selfesteem are doomed to failure and those who rely upon them are eventually left alone, old and tired; with little or no value to others and consequently to themselves. There’s Got to Be a Better Way But there's a fourth way to achieve and maintain self-esteem that isn't subject to the opinions of others and therefore not continued on Page 6 see Self Esteem